Sweeten and Lighten Life

Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba, Prashanthi Nilayam, 6 February 1963
Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust
Web posted at Jan 13, 2001

Perhaps, this Raamanaama Feast is cloying to some tastes; but, it is something that is ever fresh, that gives undying sweetness to the heart that is filled with the love of God. One single name will yield fresh sweetness, fresh joy, every time it is rolled on the tongue. I have to tell you the things I have told you often before; for, until digestion is well established, medicine has to be taken. The face has to be washed day after day. One meal is not the end of the story; you have to eat, again and again.

To get angry is but the effort of a moment; but, to get peace, to become unaffected by the ups and downs of life, is the result of years of training in Vedhaantha. It can be well established only on the basis of the belief that all material things which fall within the range of sensuous experience are fundamentally non-existent. They are Maaya, products of illusion, of the tendency to see many where only One exists. You see corpses proceeding one after the other to the graveyard; but you move about unconcerned. You feel you are eternal.

In fact, you are. That is, the real 'you', I mean. Just as the water you drink is eliminated as perspiration, the Karma that you accumulate is eliminated through Karma, gladly borne. So, bear both 'mirth and moan' with equal calm. Like the Aakaasha (space) in the pot merging with the Aakaasha outside the pot, silently, fully, with no trace of separation or distinctness, merge with the universal. That is real Sharanaagathi (surrender, salvation, liberation).

Today is the fasted Friend, hold fast to it.

Raama is extolled as the ideal son, who acted according to his father's wish, regardless of his own happiness. But, Bheeshma is a better example in this respect. He acceded to a whim of his father and in so doing made even a greater sacrifice than Raama. Dhasaratha made Raama an exile in the forest for fourteen years to satisfy the claims of truth while Shanthanu made his son give up the throne as well as a wedded life to satisfy a sensual desire of his senile body. As a matter of fact, it is not the obedience to the father's whim that is important; it is the adherence to Sathya and Dharma, which is Raama's forte.

Dheekshith said that kings, because they have to compromise with justice and truth sometime or other, usually go to the nether regions. His kingdom is, really speaking, his body. He must evince as much interest in the proper upkeep of the most distant part of his kingdom, as he does in the upkeep of his toe or scalp. Pain anywhere must be felt and remedied as quickly as pain in any part of his body. Such a king never goes to the nether regions. He is indeed thrice blessed. Janaka, for example, felt that all was His, not his. Though he had a body and all the commitments of kingship, he felt as if he was an A-shareeri (without a body) and A-samsaari (without a family).

It requires all the strength one can collect to carry a load up-hill. The gear, the accelerator, have both to operate to haul a car up a steep. The Guru who taught you cannot do anything to haul it; he can only guide. The control of the senses, changing the mode of life, the habits of thought, have to be done by you. The senses say, "Why struggle? Eat, drink and be merry, while you can," but, the Guru says, "Death lands on you without notice; overcome its fear now, before he calls." "Now is the true friend; yesterday has deceived you and gone; tomorrow is a doubtful visitor. Today is the fasted friend; hold fast to it."

Be tranquil amidst the Storms

Once when his eldest brother, Dharmaraaja, promised to a mendicant Yogi some help for a Yajna (ritual sacrifice) and asked him to call the next day, Bheema ordered all drums to beat and all flags to fly, for, "My brother is certain to live until tomorrow! At least, that is what he believes will happen."

Death stalks your footsteps like a tiger in the bush. So without further waste of time, endeavour to give up sloth and anger; be tranquil amidst the storms; mix in tranquil company. Let the fragrant smoke of divine thoughts, full of love to all, rise around you; why try to scatter fragrance from scent-sticks available in the market? The flame of Jnaana (experiential knowledge of supreme reality) can reduce to cinders the impulses inherited through many births and many experiences. In the heat of that crucible, dross is burnt and precious metal is isolated.

The Lord is sweet in every one of His Actions

Saadhana (spiritual effort) requires regular habits and moderation in food, sleep, and exercise. Fasting weakens the intellect and reduces the strength of discrimination. The body, the mind and the spirit, all three must be equally looked after. Unless you have "muscles of iron and nerves of steel," you cannot contain in your head the tremendously transforming idea of Adhwaitha, of your being the universal itself, the eternal reality itself! Lesser strength can only think in terms of servitude or subsidiary roles. To see the truth as truth, and the untruth as untruth, clarity of vision and courage of vision are both needed.

The seven-walled fort - Mamaakaara (feeling of mind and one's own) and the six evil tendencies, Kaama (lust), Krodha (anger), Lobha (greed), Moha (infatuation), Madha (arrogance) and Maathsarya (jealousy) - has a garden in the centre and a lake, where the Hamsa (divine bird) plays. It is the image of your own true self; become aware of it and you are saved. You have come into this Lokha (world) to enter the presence of the Lokesha (Lord of the world). So do not tarry in wayside inns, mistaking them to be the goal. The Lord too will be longing for the arrival of the lost. He is like a cow yearning for its calf.

Once Krishna was in a fix; it was the birthday of Rukmini and it was also the anniversary of his marriage with Sathyabhama! Both queens were awaiting His arrival in their palaces, but, Krishna, to the great mortification of the proud Sathyabhaamaa, went to Rukmini and after sharing the feast with her, entered the palace of Sathyabhaama. She was in an inconsolable mood of resentment, but, though she did not offer anything to Krishna out of pique, Krishna Himself picked up a few jambu fruits from the garden and ate them, appreciating all the while the care with which the queen was looking after the garden and the extraordinarily fine taste of every fruit that grew in it! Sathyabhaama was thus encouraged to forget the sense of injury. The Lord is sweet in every one of His actions, movements, words, gestures. He is sweetness itself.

This Life is a Dream you have taken to be true

Take the instance of Raama. Bairaagi Shaasthry recited a poem about the lotus feet of Raama, treading the stony, thorny jungle regions. But Kaikeyi had not realised this, when she asked that Raama should go into exile. She learnt about it and was horrified at what she had done only when she saw Raama, Seetha and Lakshmana in the hermitage as she watched her son plead with Raama to return to His throne. Raama never felt the thorn or the stone for He had devised the jungle Himself, in order to infuse faith in the sages and nip their fears.

As a matter of fact, what other functions have those feet than warding off the hurdles on the path of Bhakthas? The bearer alone knows the weight of the load on his shoulder. The tiniest suffering in you causes the same suffering here also. There is an old woman from Salem here, since a week; her son, a young man of twenty-five years, is insane and cannot attend to his needs. She does not know how much I was affected; but, I was inquiring, "Did he take his morning coffee?" And telling her, "Carry food to him and feed him, he is hungry." Her anxiety was just one-sixtyfourth of Mine! You think that I pay attention only to those who sit in front, but, I see all and I am with all, wherever they may be. Only those who have been blessed will know, not the rest.

No fuel, no fire. No Saadhana, no Sankalpa (sub-conciousness desire). Pour oil and light the wick. You are on a pilgrimage to the beyond, so, you cannot long dwell in this beneath. Some time or other, sooner or later, this birth or the next, you have to realise that this is but a dream you look to be true; you have to pack up and march. This is Asath (non-being); go towards the Sath (being). This is Thamas (darkness); this is the realm of death. Proceed towards the Jyothi (effulgent light); proceed towards the realm where immortality reigns.

Let the Desire to be saved sprout in You

The tree might appear to be dry; but, it will bloom, it will bear fruit; do not despair. I shall make it sprout, provided the sap of repentance is still running. Come just one step forward, I shall take a hundred towards you. Shed just one tear, I shall wipe a hundred from your eyes. I bless only thus! May your Aanandha (bliss) grow.

When the night grows chill, you draw the rug tighter around you, is it not? So too when grief assails you, draw the warmth of the name of the Lord closer round your mind. Out of all the crores of Indians, you alone have gained this contact, through your good luck. Let at least the desire to be saved sprout in you; I shall see that it grows and gives fruit, provided you yearn and try. To pour the nectar of grace, the vessel must be cleansed. Clean it and demand the nectar; do not grieve later that you missed the chance, when it had come within reach. You will not know Me in a trice, or even in days. It is something that has to be realised by stages, in due course, through Viveka, Vairaagya and Vichakshana (discrimination, non-attachment, clear-sightedness).

You have been squatting for four hours and some of you might be squirming and feeling an ache in the back. But it is no ache, pray that you may get this feeling all through life, for you have been receiving the teaching that will sweeten and lighten life itself.